Khudaal Silverbelt
Khudaal Silverbelt, Scout-Ranger of Thelsamar and Warbrand of the Dwarven Vanguard. A skilled outdoorsman and deadly assassin who now works in tandem with the forces of Ironforge to ease the guilt weighing on his conscience from his time spent as a hitman. As a rogue, Khudaal utilizes petty shadow magic in his line of work. It enables him to meld with shadows and become perfectly invisible, even in the bright light of daytime. However, it comes at the cost of resisting Light magic, and healing from Light sources will be less effective. Khudaal responds much better to Elemental and practical forms of healing. =''Physical Description''= ---- Khudaal stands roughly 4' 8" tall, and is a bit stocky, especially in the shoulders. However, he not a burly man, and is rather wiry despite the broad frame provided by his bones. He wears a bushy red beard, with a braid on each side, and has a small braid woven into the short hair near his left ear. He also wears a ponytail in the back, tied off to keep it from getting in his way. He has dark brown eyes, and pale, milky skin. He is usually a bit dusty from his adventures. Up and down his arms, and across his chest, he has several battle scars from the knives of enemies who got a bit too close. One scar slashes down over his right eye, from eyebrow to cheekbone, but the eye is untouched. His left ear is missing, and has been replaced with an iron prosthetic forged by one of his close friends. On his left bicep lies, in purple ink so dark it's almost black, a rune that does not belong to any known alphabet. Known professionally as the 'Crimson Reaper,' Khudaal dresses in leather armor dyed blood-red. The leathers, which were crafted by Khudaal himself, are faded and well wrinkled from many years of use. Patches and stitches can be seen, expertly integrated into the armor so as to make it seem like a feature rather than a fix. Battle scars litter the armor as well, slashes and slices all over where enemy blades didn't quite make it through the padding. =''History''= ---- Khudaal was born in Thelsamar, near Loch Modan. He lived with his mother Ilsa Silverbelt, as his father Bregor was killed by Twilight's Hammer Cultists during a raid on the village while she was still pregnant. He was raised as a hunter, trained by his mother's friend to stalk the woods hunting the black bears commonly used in the region's famous blood sausages. It was here that he learned how to skin animals and use the leather to create armor and other useful items. When Khudaal turned 16, he decided to join the Rangers of Thelsamar to help protect his hometown against attacks from gnolls, giant spiders, and the cultists from the north. He was placed in the scout division because of his knowledge of hunting. Here, he learned how to stalk a target even better. He learned much about poisons and first aid techniques as well, and became rather well-regarded by the people of the village. Fifteen years after he left his hometown, he is now wandering Azeroth and other worlds seeking his fortune and his fate. In his many travels, he managed to lose the distinctive accent most dwarves carry, and has but a mild affection in his speech. =''Assassin''= ---- The following details were disclosed after Khudaal joined the Dwarven Vanguard as a way of explaining his mysterious past. Khudaal's mother Ilsa provided for her son by selling her wares in town, she was a celebrated chemist who brewed magnificent potions for the townspeople. However, with expenses in the land increasing due to local tax increases to cover the costs of the wars, Ilsa was forced to find a way to bring in more money to feed her quickly-growing son. She struck a deal with a travelling caravan to journey south to Stormwind City, where she could sell potions to a much larger audience. For five years, this arrangement worked well. She made a very good profit from each trip, and Khudaal grew into a young man without knowing much hardship. When Khudaal was 18, he received word that his mother had been killed by a band of orcs raiding the roads of Elwynn Forest. Due to a shortage of guards in the area, the roads were unprotected. By the time word spread about raiders in the area, it was too late. Khudaal journeyed south to recover her remains, and found that the guards had already buried her in Northshire Abbey's graveyard and blessed by the Light. Khudaal was infuriated, as his family had always worshipped Khaz'goroth the Shaper. However, he felt that it would be even worse to exhume her body to bring her home, so he said his goodbyes and left before his anger at the situation got the better of him. Some days later in Goldshire, drowning his sorrow in a pint of beer, he became aware of a woman in the back of the tavern giving a speech to the patrons. She was wearing a mask, but her words carried weight. She denounced the kingdom of Stormwind, citing the deaths of thousands of good men and women fighting the king's wars. She pointed out the poverty of Westfall, the orcish raids on Lakeshire and the roads of Elwynn. She claimed it was the duty of the people to revolt, to remove the government from power so that the people could once more know peace as it should be. The patrons laughed her out of the inn, but Khudaal quietly agreed. When he finished his pint, he slipped outside and found the woman. He pledged his loyalty and support to the cause, and gave himself over to the Defias Brotherhood. Khudaal excelled greatly at his new line of work. His training as a ranger enabled him to stalk his targets like prey, and knowing how to hunt enabled him to quickly and quietly end their lives. In this fashion, he claimed hundreds of lives, from assassination targets, the victims of his thievery, bounty hunters come to claim his head, and some just for fun when he got drunk and felt like showing off. It didn't take too long before the rumors started to circulate about a new assassin working with the Defias gang, and the people of Elwynn Forest and Westfall took to battening up their shutters a bit tighter at night. After some time, Khudaal's infamy grew beyond his capability to silence. Tales of a 'Crimson Reaper' wandering through Elwynn Forest, Duskwood, and Westfall were shared with terrified enthusiasm around tables, campfires, and inns. Word of a dwarf with red hair dressed in leathers dyed red with blood was shared often, and his enemies grew in number. Aside from dodging the law, Khudaal now had to outwit the knives hired by his enemies, usually related to previously completed jobs. During one particularly bloody month, Khudaal was singlehandedly responsible for the deaths of twenty hired knives who had set out to claim the bounty on his head. A song was created by a bard in the Lion's Pride Inn, called 'Twenty Men'. To the town of fair Goldshire came a stranger one fine day Hardly spoke to folks around him, didn't have too much to say, No one dared to ask his business, no one dared to make a slip The stranger there among them had a greatsword on his hip, Greatsword on his hip. It was early in the morning when he rode into the town He came riding from the west side, slowly lookin' all around "He's a killer, rogue and runnin'", came a whisper from each lip "And he's here to do some business with the greatsword on his hip, Greatsword on his hip." In this town there was a hitman by the name of Killin' Red Many men had tried to take him and that many men were dead He was vicious and a killer, though a youth of twenty years And the trophies on his knife belt numbered one and eighteen ears, One and eighteen ears. Now the stranger started talkin', made it plain to folks around Was a Badlands warrior, wouldn't be too long in town He was here to take an outlaw back alive or maybe dead And he said it didn't matter that he was after Killin' Red, After Killin' Red. Wasn't long before this story was relayed to Killin' Red But the hitman didn't worry, men who tried before were dead Nineteen men had tried to take him, nineteen men had made a slip, And twenty would be the warrior with the greatsword on his hip, Greatsword on his hip. Now the morning passed so quickly and it was time for them to meet It was twenty past eleven when they walked out in the street Folks were watchin' from their windows, Everybody held their breath, They hoped this fearsome hitman was about to meet his death, About to meet his death. There was twenty feet between them When they stopped to make their play And the swiftness of the hitman still talked about today The warrior had not cleared scabbard when a dagger fairly ripped And the hitman's aim was deadly, with the steel knife on his hip, Steel knife on his hip. It was over in a moment and the crowd all gathered 'round There before them lay the body of the warrior on the ground Oh, he might have went on livin' but he made one fatal slip When he tried to match the hitman with the steel knife on his hip, Steel knife on his hip. (To the tune of Marty Robbins' 'Big Iron') After four years of banditry, Khudaal's infamy became an issue for the Defias Brotherhood. While he was good at his job, they couldn't risk him becoming a threat to the gang bosses. And so, one night, they drugged him, bound him in rope, and sold him to a cult known as the Children of Whispering Shadows. Khudaal was subjected to intense physical and psychological torture at the hands of the cultists. He was mentally enslaved by the cult's leader, unable to think or act for himself unless it was in alignment with the cult's ideals. Against his will, his life force was bound with that of a voidwalker named Zar'ilith. The being granted him power, and was bound to his will using the voidwalker's name-rune, which was tattooed on Khudaal's left arm. Khudaal's connection to Zar'ilith enables him to meld with shadows and become perfectly invisible in broad daylight, but at the cost of being unable to fully accept Holy energies into his body. Under direction of the cult, who had brainwashed the dwarf, Khudaal began doing their work. He killed their enemies, participated in their rituals, and enabled them to grow in power. It was through his efforts that dozens of innocent farming families were kidnapped and sacrificed in dark rituals, it was at Khudaal's hand that several villages were put to the torch for the delight of the cult's patron god. The one job that he now regrets the most is a family in the Wetlands; the Prestols. Bronnen and Layla were their names, and they had three children: Harren, Velka, and Chava. They owned a small farm near the cliffs of the Wetlands, land that the Cult wanted to obtain for a summoning ritual. Khudaal’s job was to make them leave the land one way or another. The Prestols refused to leave on three separate occasions. The Cult didn’t like unfinished jobs. If Khudaal didn’t secure the use of the Prestol’s land for the Cult, they’d find someone who would, and Khudaal would find himself sleeping at the bottom of a river. In an attempt to secure the land, Khudaal went to their home one night and threatened them to leave, on pain of death. Their boy, Harren, was frightened, and attacked Khudaal with a wood axe. Khudaal killed him, in front of his family. The father, seeing his son murdered in front of him, also rushed Khudaal. Bronnen met the same end. Khudaal, enraged and caught in a blood lust, murdered Layla and Velka, and kidnapped Chava. He sold Chava, who was a girl of ten, to some slavers bound for Kalimdor. Many sleepless nights followed this act, and the guilt welled up inside of him. The guilt was the thing that finally enabled Khudaal to free himself from the cult leader's thrall, and think for himself for the first time in eleven years. With his mind freed, he ran from the cult to the city of Stormwind, where an unlikely encounter led to his joining the Dwarven Vanguard. As such, Khudaal marks the year 629 K.C. as the year his life truly began, as the life he knew that came before the time he joined the Defias has been lost to him. He searches for the girl Chava to this day, hoping that she has not perished in the service of the Horde, hoping that if he does find her, she will offer him forgiveness, and will accept his life debt. =[[Dwarven Vanguard|The Dwarven Vanguard]]= ---- After escaping to Stormwind and trying to make an honest living by selling leather goods, Khudaal was approached by General Bromas Ebonram of the Dwarven Vanguard in the Dwarven district of Stormwind. Seeing this as his way to leave his past behind him, as a way to begin to make amends for the destruction he had wrought for nearly ten years, he decided to have the interview. He now serves with the Vanguard fervently, doing as much good as he can as a means of repaying the debt of having escaping the noose. After being enlisted, Khudaal joined the Vanguard on several expeditions, making several close friends with whom he has shared several adventures. He is quickly rising in the ranks of the Vanguard, and his ambition drives him to become an officer, and to do deeds of great renown. He looks forward to the adventures ahead, eager to see what the world has in store. =''Personality''= ---- Khudaal is now a generally kind person, and cares much for his family and friends, two groups which seem to come together as one in his mind. He is willing to lay down his life for those he deems worthy of his friendship and protection, and will go to the ends of the earth to ensure their safety. He adheres to a strict morale code, though none can say what it might be. However, if he's ever seen doing something a bit questionable, it's usually done so he can "Keep to tha' code." Those fifteen long years of stalking enemies in the wild made him a hard man, and he will sometimes be colder, less remorseful, and more callous than the normal person. When it all catches up to him, however, he tends to drown his feelings with a pint or ten in the nearest tavern. Khudaal enjoys fishing on his time off, and sketching the scenery of new places he visits. He prefers Draenei and Void Elf women, but generally likes all women so long as they are kind-hearted. He likes cooking, and strolling through the woods on a sunny day. He is fond of bears. =''Campaigns''= ---- Operation Blackrock and Roll The Blackhand Battalion invaded the lands of the Dark Iron dwarves, who are his allies and kinsmen. Through great difficulty, Khudaal and the Dwarven Vanguard managed to repel the invaders from those lands. Khudaal sustained minor injuries. Depths of Vash'Jir The Horde of Sylvanas and the Cult of the Twilight Hammer attempted to secure a valuable deposit of Azerite in Vash'Jir. The Dwarven Vanguard, in conjunction with several other forces, repelled the attackers, securing the Azerite for the Alliance's use. Khudaal took three scalps in personal combat, and personally destroyed a dragon turtle with an artillery piece on it, earning him the title of Turtlebane. He recieved several serious wounds in the ensuing fights. The scars on his arms and chest are from those injuries, bound together by the shadow magic of a corrupted priest. Defense of the Wetlands The Blackhand Battalion attacked the Thanedom of Modr, the lands held by the Dwarven Vanguard. The Vanguard repelled the invaders, but at great cost to the land and its people. Khudaal sustained heavy injuries from axes and swords. He fell in battle, and choked to death on his own blood. Saved by the mercy of an enemy battle priest, Khudaal was revived and moved to intensive care. Khudaal was later honored for his valor in battle with a promotion to Dragoon. Battle for Dragonmaw Pass Khudaal and the Dwarven Vanguard sought out and destroyed a band of over one hundred Dragonmaw Orcs in the Dragonmaw Pass in retribution for the innocent lives taken by the Dragonmaw and Blackhand Battalion during the attack on the Wetlands. Khudaal sustained heavy injuries from an axe, but secured the scalps of fourteen enemy orcs. During the battle, Khudaal also had his left ear bitten off by a Nightborne hunter. In the confusion of the battle's aftermath, battle medics replaced his ear with the ear of the Nightborne, which Khudaal cut off in retribution. However, soon afterwards, the mistake was corrected when the offending ear was removed, and replaced with a metal prosthetic forged from iron. Battle for Menethil Harbor Khudaal and the Dwarven Vanguard fended off Horde attacks as they recouped from the Battle for Dragonmaw Pass. Minor injuries were sustained, and the attack was successfully repelled. A shadow fiend summoned by allied forces rendered the land uninhabitable for some time until it was cleared out in a later expedition. Operation Knightfall A force of rogue Undead sent by Lady Sylvanas approached Stormwind from the south by way of Stranglethorn. Khudaal and the Dwarven Vanguard stood against the horde at multiple points, finally repelling the force under the eaves of Elwynn Forest. Khudaal sustained minor injuries, and was distinguished for his valor with a promotion to Warbrand. Hills of Ash A force of rebel Dark Iron dwarves led by ex-Vanguard Dragoon Duglum Deepflint invaded Thundermar with the intent of purging the land in fire. The Dwarven Vanguard was deployed to repel the invasion. Khudaal sustained minor injuries during a fight against a Dark Iron shaman, and brought down a fire elemental by destroying the totem binding it to the plane of existence. In the defense of Thundermar, Khudaal slayed Duglum Deepflint's Corehound pet, earning him the title of 'Corehound's Bane'. However, he was bitten during the fight, spilling hisintestines in the process. Duglum also shattered Khudaal's knee, and nearly executed Khudaal with his hammer, when Burainn Trueforge stepped in to save him from death. Khudaal, weakened and unable to fight, is attacked with fire magic by Duglum, and is consumed by fire. It is only when Thaugrim Anvilrage stands in to heal him with Holy magic that Khudaal is saved, but Khudaal is burnt from head to toe, and several of his leathers are fused with his flesh. Khadry Stormheart healed Khudaal's knee, and Khudaal later received stitches on his abdomen. Khudaal later developed heavy scarring on his stomach as a result. The armor that fused with Khudaal's flesh was also removed at a later point by skilled surgeons in Stormwind. Category:Dwarf Category:Bronzebeard Dwarf Category:The Dwarven Vanguard Category:Rogue Category:Ironforge Organizations Category:Kingdom of Ironforge Category:Characters